'The journey home': Sixties Scoop survivors express both hope and doubts about apology

As the last of the Sixties Scoop sharing circles come to a close, Rod Belanger gazes outside of the window in the mâmawêyatitân centre in Regina's North Central neighbourhood.

"You can look outside here, and take a walk in the hood here and you can see a broken down nation of people," Belanger said.

"If you went back in their genealogies, maybe not even 100 years ago, people were a lot healthier, body, soul and spirit than these people are today.

"But they live with that blood memory, they live with that DNA."

For Belanger, the pain began with broken promises and treaties, leading to the Sixties Scoop that saw thousands of Indigenous children taken from their homes and placed mostly with white families from the 1960s up to the 1980s.

In October, sharing circles began for survivors throughout the province, as part of the Saskatchewan government's efforts to observe past wrongs and consider a meaningful apology to survivors. Earlier this month, Saskatchewan's social services minister said the province hopes to apologize to Sixties Scoop survivors by year's end.

The last of the circles wrap up on Sunday.

It brings hope, but in the back of your mind, is this going to be another let-down for our people?- Rod Belanger

Belanger said he was glad to see ministers and MLAs come out to listen and learn, but he's among those that are skeptical about the government issuing an apology for this history.

"Everybody's watching this. We've had so many promises from government over decades. Decades. Everything that they've ever wanted to do to help us has failed," he said.

For him, the Sixties Scoop sharing circles hold the potential that people may listen and honour the intent of the original treaties that were signed — a true nation to nation relationship, with a promise to share the land.

"It brings hope, but in the back of your mind, is this going to be another let-down for our people?"

A steadfast believer in an apology

The survivors share stories of being taken from their homes as infants and as toddlers. Some, like Belanger, found their way home, but they describe the pain and loss of language and culture and of missing years with their biological families.

Robert Doucette, the soft-spoken co-chair of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Saskatchewan, greets people with warmth and familiarity, a handshake as he greets them with the word "sister" and "brother."

Doucette considers himself fortunate, as Sixties Scoop survivors go, due to having a stable home as a child.

"I would say I was lucky because I was only with one family," he said. "But on the other hand, you lose so much you can never get back — your culture, your language, your family relationships, the things you would have learned from your grandparents and your uncles, your aunties. You'll never ever get that back."

Doucette grew up in Prince Albert, only a couple of blocks from his biological father, never realizing just how close his family was. In 1980, he finally met his mother and was able to forge a relationship with her and his siblings.

Now, he considers it a blessing to have been able to walk in both worlds, having been raised by white parents but being of Indigenous descent.

"I look at that as an opportunity to try and help people understand both worlds."

Doucette has voiced the need for an apology; for him, it would mean the government recognizes he and his family were punished, without doing anything wrong.

"But to actually mean it, it can't just be an apology. I think there has to be some action alongside that."

He said he was heartened to see people like Minister of Social Services Paul Merriman attend the sharing circles, working on improving the relationship and committing to reduce child apprehensions from Indigenous communities.

"For a great many of us, the journey home happened this year, because finally somebody listened to a lot of people in these sharing circles," Doucette said.

While that doesn't open a magic key to instant healing, it has given survivors a sense they're respected — something many didn't feel in their childhoods, Doucette said.

"I've always been hopeful that we can build a better province together and I see that in these sharing circles," he said.

"That's the journey to make a better place for all of us."